The Bucs (15-6, 5-3) led at the half even though NIC-10 MVP Joe Byers sat out 10 minutes with two early fouls. The Bucs then opened the second half with an alley-oop dunk by Byers from Maurice Jackson (11 points, 7 assists).

Jake Wilson switched to point guard and scored 16 points, including Hononegah's first seven of the fourth quarter.

"I'm trying to be a team leader and get the most out of my teammates," Wilson said.

The lead changed hands 11 times, including four in the last four minutes of the game. Garrett Schweighauser scored in the lane to give the Indians the lead for good at 49-48. But Byers (seven of his 15 points in the last four minutes) kept the Bucs close. When the Indians missed two free throws with 12 seconds left, the Bucs had a chance to win, but didn't get off a good shot. Byers missed badly on a rushed 25-footer at the buzzer.

"That was us kind of freaking out," Pearson said. "This loss hurts. We're not where we need to be. We're not playing good basketball."

Hononegah is playing Hononegah basketball once again.

"Defense is the big focus of Hononegah basketball," Sughroue said.

"Coach always says one stop and we're out of here, send us home, and we did just that," Wilson said of the final play.

"It's been a crazy year," Miller said. "People didn't give us a whole lot of credit early and we got out of the gate great, then went through a killer stretch in our schedule that we've been trying to survive. We're not through it yet; we've still got a couple of the big boys coming, but I'm really proud of our toughness."